Thing #21 Podcasts: no iPod needed

I looked at all the podcast directories listed in the Discovery Resources. I didn't find any book reiew podcasts or library news podcasts. I did topic searches with the words elementary, library, librarian, books, etc. There were pages and pages of podcasts that I didn't have time to look at. For some of them, when you opened them, there was just a list of files with various podcasts. Some were descriptive enough to be able to figure out whether or not I wanted to listen to them or not. There were a few with details listed which gave me ideas about what was specifically in the podcast. When there are thousands of podcasts in any one category, it is helpful to be able to target what you are looking for in order to save time.

Some of the directories were easier to use because you could do a word search for whatever topic you were interested in. At least one of the directories had no searching capabilities at all. There was just an index of broad subject areas to choose from. I was looking for a directory that had some kind of advanced search where you could search by topic, but also by audience, such as elementary. I didn't come across those capabilities in any of the ones I looked at.

As far as podcasts useful for school, I thought the Educational Podcast Directory was the best because the content was directed at curriculum areas such as math, science, language arts, etc. I probably wouldn't promote the use of searching any of the other directories with my students because I did come across some objectionable podcasts on some of the other directories. For my own personal use, I will probably go back and spend some more time with those, just exploring what all is available.

I added several RSS feeds to my Bloglines account and to I-Tunes. In Bloglines I added podcasting consultant Jason Van Orden's commemtary, tips and resources feed. In I-Tunes, I added several good podcasts. They were:

Booktalks Quick and Simple
Storynory Audio Stories for Kids
SLJ's Podcasts : Tech Chickies and Test Drive
Promethean Plantet Active Tips with audio and video
SMART Board Lessons
Learning in Hand: I-Pods

I was very overwhelmed after going through Jason Van Orden's hour-long tutorial on how to podcast. This morning I was shelving a few books and Curtissa Greene, our tech facilitator came by to visit. She said she had seen my wiki. I told her that I wanted to figure out how to create a podcast on the Birth of American Democracy research wiki which my 5th grade students had finished last week. She showed me in less than 5 minutes how to use Garage Band to do it in just a few steps. I created a test podcast and posted it on my wiki. You can click on the pbwiki link on the sidebar of my blog if you are interested in how it "looks". Go to the podcast page of the wiki and click on the link to hear our "test". I plan on having some of my 5th graders share some of what they learned last week during research. I hope to have it posted by the 1st of Feburary, so check back then if you are interested.